What matter to be happy
by Ca Staub
Summary: Even the most beautiful people had to go through unbelievable situation that would break them down and turn they world upside down. But with the help of his friend and the most important person in his life, Neal learn how to deal and manage his condition.


**Guys, I'm sorry for the delay on my other story. Please don't hate me. I swear that sooner my beta send me the chapters I will update.**  
**Now, like apologize I'm posting that short story. It's a future fic. **  
**Thank you to vguz04 who help me with this.**  
**I hope you like and don't be mad with me.**

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Sophia loved her father, no one could say otherwise, but since his illness was discovered, about four years ago, to deal with him was not an easy task. Sophia liked to help him, but his illness left him unable to control his emotions, and often unable to control tears.

Her father was her hero. He cared for her alone until she was fourteen's. After that his illness was getting worse and they went to live with her dad's friends, Peter and Elizabeth. They treated him like a brother, so Sophia treated them like real uncle and aunt. She and Neal were grateful for all they had done, and still do for them.

Sophia's mother had abandoned them when she was only a few months old, but Sophia never let that to discourage her. It's true that she missed one person to stay with her when she started having to take care of her father, but there were Peter and El to not leave them alone.

They had sold their old house to buy the one with only one floor. Earlier Neal protested, not wanting them to change their lives so drastically, but he had to reconsider that, when it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to climb a couple of stairs.

Peter found a nice place for Neal to have his treatment. That place seemed to make miracles in a short time. Sophia could already notice the difference. When he went the first time on the rehabilitation center, AACD, Neal had difficulty even keeping his neck straight. He had been visiting other places, but just there was where Neal had some improvement. The ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) wasn't an easy disease and also had no cure, but to see how the treatment delayed the worsening of symptoms was already a victory for Sophia. Even Neal had to admit it.

It all started when Neal realized he could no longer run. Gradually his movements were becoming increasingly slow and clumsy. Now he was in a wheelchair.

Neal didn't like that his daughter was wasting her youth caring for him. He didn't like anyone needed to take care of him, but he was no longer able to do anything alone. His arm movements were stiff and uncoordinated, but with physiotherapy he was still able to move them after a bit of effort. One of the symptoms that irritated Neal more was the spasms. As much as he was strengthening his muscles daily, the spasms were still part of his daily live. It hurt and made him very frustrated.

He also was frustrated at times when he wanted to be alone, to not show his emotional disarray, but couldn't because he couldn't move.

He needed someone to help him even to change clothes. Neal also hated the fact that every time that someone had the idea for all four of them to go out together was a commotion to choose the proper place. After a while Neal decided not to go out to dinner any more. He had to be helped to make the simple task of taking the fork to his mouth. He hated eating in public and that's why the conversation that Sophia wanted to have with him was so difficult at the moment.

"Good morning, dad." Sophia greeted when entered in Neal's room and opened the curtains.

"Good morning." Neal said yawning.

"I would like to talk to you." Sophia said going to the closet. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a button down shirt.

"Do you have to announce when you want to talk?" He asked smiling. "It's just talk."

"I don't think I have told you this yet, but I'm going out with a boy from school." Sophia said while beginning to change Neal's pajamas to the clothes she had chosen.

"My girl is dating." Neal said proudly. In other circumstances he would not be so happy, but now he was happy she was not wasting her youth only taking care of him. "I'm glad."

"It's not quite a dating. At least while he still doesn't know my father." She said giving him a look as she put him in a sitting position to put the shirt.

"Sophia ..." Neal didn't like the idea.

"Dad," she interrupted. "You'll have to meet him sooner or later. El and Peter had agreed to a dinner tonight."

"Not a dinner." Neal said.

"It'll be here." Sophia promised. "And Lucas knows about your disease and you have nothing to worry about."

"I don't know, Sophia." Neal said uncertainly.

"Do it for me." Sophia asked sitting on the bed and holding his hand. With her big blue eyes, her father's legacy, she begs his acceptance. And that was foul play, because there was nothing that Neal would not do for her if it was within his reach.

"Okay, but I want to do everything by myself." Neal tried.

"Dad..." This time it was Sophia who had doubts.

"At least for tonight?" Neal asked her.

He could still do a few things for himself, but it was the result of great effort from him and Sophia was afraid he would fall if he tried to walk or do something. But she knew that Neal didn't want to feel useless and she had to give him some credit. "Tell you what. You stay in the wheelchair, but you can try to eat alone." If Neal knew he would not be able to eat alone he would ask for help, which was more acceptable to her than if he fell.

Neal thought for a moment and realized that was all he would have "Okay."

Sophia smiled a genuine "Caffrey smile" and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're awesome." She said giving him a hug. Neal, put his arms around his daughter, slowly and with great effort.

Sophia helped Neal to finish getting ready and took him to the car. She took him to physiotherapy every day before going to school. Neal spent a lot of time there and only returned when Sophia came seeking him after class. He had greatly improved, but any failure to exercise it could cause them to scratch that improvement.

Often he had been really tired of the exercises he had done, but he could not complain. He didn't want to disturb the three people that were the most important to him. The more strengthened his muscles were, the more the disease's progress slowed down.

He really liked that place. The atmosphere was good and the company was better. When Neal arrived that day, he told his therapist about his conversation with Sophia.

"Well, then let's get you to be in a good shape tonight." She said with a smile before they started.

With the help of physiotherapist, Neal spent almost the entire time he was there, coaching for dinner. She helped him with the exercises of occupational therapy and before he leaves she helped him with some leg exercises.

After Sophia picked him up they went to the Central Park. She liked that Neal would breathe some fresh air and to spend some time away from home or the AACD. They returned home a little before dark. El was home preparing the roast for dinner.

Sophia helped Neal to the shower and dressed him for the dinner. Her father was still very handsome and Sophia knew he tore sighs of many voluntary and physiotherapists working in the AACD.

When Lucas arrived Sophia seemed a little nervous. She ran to answer the door and greeted him with a kiss. Neal was watching her while she and her boyfriend entered the room. His daughter, his little girl had grown so much without him even noticing.

"Dad, this is Lucas. Lucas, this is my dad, Neal." Sophia said pointing from one to another.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Caffrey." The boy said politely, but Neal could feel a bit of the same nervousness that he had noticed in his daughter.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, kid." Neal said, and for Sophia's surprise, Neal raised his hand expecting a handshake of the younger man.

Lucas and Sophia exchanged a smile before he shook hands with Neal in response. The teenagers' tension, which was due to entirely different reasons, had disappeared.

Neal did everything he could alone. His wheelchair was motorized so he did not need help to lead with. At dinnertime Neal surprised everyone when he poured himself and cut his own meat.

Seeing his father make the effort to eat alone on the day he was meeting her boyfriend, made the Sophia's heart increasingly filled with love for him. Each forkful that her father brought to his mouth made her want to weep with joy, especially with the smile that was plastered on his face. She was sure he had practiced a lot for this dinner.

The dinner was running better than Sophia expected. Lucas had come loose and talked quietly with everyone at the table. Everything was running fine until Sophia heard a loud noise of glass breaking.

She just looked at Neal who was looking down, at the pieces of his glass on the floor. The conversation stopped and all involuntarily looked around for the source of the noise, but soon they began to talk again.

The silence did not last more than two seconds, but it was enough for Neal feel tears of frustration burning in his eyes. He did not want to give a sample of his emotional imbalance for his daughter's boyfriend on the day they met, so he went towards his room as fast as his wheelchair allowed him. Sophia called him, but he did not wait.

"I'll talk to him." Peter said rising, but Sophia prevented.

"Let me to do that." She said making him sit again. She looked at Lucas saying to excuse her and he smiled at her sympathetically.

Sophia took a deep breath and went to her dad's room. She understood his frustration. He was too young to be so dependent on other people. Her father was always very independent and now his dignity was put to test every day when not being able to do the simple task of bathing.

Neal had stopped his chair beside his bed. He was crying a lot when she arrived.

"Are you okay?" Sophia asked, joining him.

"You didn't have to come here. I'm fine. You can go stay with your boyfriend." Neal said without hiding the tears. Sophia was already familiar with it and he didn't have to hide that from her.

"No, I want to stay here." She said, sitting on the bed in front of him. "Sorry."

"For what?" Neal said between tears.

"It was I who asked you to do this. You didn't want dinner, but I insisted." She said simply.

"And I accepted. I just wanted to remember how I was before it. Do you remember?" Neal asked. Of course that Sophia remembered, she would never forget. "I just wanted you to be proud of me, and not ashamed, but I blew it."

"Don't say that." Sophia said seriously. "You will not be as you were, but you could be better. You've made a good progress. I have to remind you of how you arrive to the AACD? You spoke with difficulty, not moving nearly any part of your body nor could you keep your neck straight. And look at you now." Sophia swallowed the tears as she remembered how her dad was less than a year ago. She really thought he would die. And actually, if he hadn't started the physiotherapy he really would die. "You can't imagine how happy I was to see you did well at dinner."

Neal laughed resentfully. "Did well? I couldn't hold even a glass of water."

"But you could cut the meat, eat and even shook hands with Lucas. I'm proud of you, actually I always was. And it offends me that you doubted your daughter."

"I do not doubt you." Neal said promptly.

"So why do you think that you have to prove something to me?" She said fondly. "I love you, silly. Breaking a glass is absolutely nothing after so many things you could do by yourself today. I thought you would never hold me again." She said and he smiled.

"I would have gotten." Neal admitted. "I would be able to hold the glass, but I had that damn spasm." He tried to justify.

"You don't need to explain." Sophia said stroking his arm.

"I wanted to show your boyfriend that I'm not useless."

"He knows that you are not." Sophia was about to cry. Her voice cracking has not gone unnoticed by Neal.

"I wished to be a better father to you." He said.

"That's impossible." She said with a smile. "You're the best man I know."

"Oh, I don't believe in that. Peter is a better man than me."

"He is a former FBI agent, and you are a former con man. He lived to fulfill the law and you to breaking it. But I don't care about your past; I only care about the present. And besides, I know you changed and even with your past you raised me with the right foundation of what is right and what is wrong." She gave him a hug and both cried together. It was very difficult for Sophia and Neal needed no reason to cry.

"And I warn you that however much you try you won't get rid of me." She said loosening his embrace.

"I would never want to get rid of you." He slowly brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. Then as suddenly as he started crying, he started laughing. For anyone else it would be an exaggerated laugh, but Sophia not only was familiar with that, as she would rather see her dad laughing that way, than to see him cry.

"What's so funny?" She asked smiling.

"What kind of father doesn't impose respect for the daughter's boyfriend?"

"He's not afraid of you, but he respects you." Sophia said.

"And why would he respect me without being afraid?" Neal said, but never expected the response he received.

"Well, I told him that even without having any experience with kids, you raised me alone. I told him that when you got sick, your friends not only called you to live with them, but also sold their house so you could have more comfort. Only a person who really makes a difference has that effect on people." Sophia said full of pride. "And he also has respect for you for all the expectations that you exceeded. Actually everybody have respect for you and I'm lucky to be your daughter."

Sophia watched Neal's reaction to her words and for a moment she thought he had started to cry again. "Can we go back to the room now?" Sophia was ready to receive a negative and to have to help him go to bed before returning to the room.

"Just give me a minute." Neal said starting to make his way to dry the tears began to bind in his face, but Sophia had gone forward and was doing it for him, but rather than Neal complain, he took it as a demonstration of affection from his daughter. "They won't say anything for I go back?" Neal said referring to El, Peter and Lucas.

"Uncle Peter and Aunt El won't ask anything." Sophia said. "And Lucas is more understanding than you think."

"He seems like a good man." Neal said.

"The best. You know what they say. All girls look for her father in the boyfriends, so I simply couldn't have less than the best." She said blinking at Neal. "Let's go."

Neal let her drive the wheelchair back into the room. He would no longer oppose her help. He felt happier than he could remember he had ever been. He finally understood that it was the opposite; he would love his daughter the same way and would never want her to feel different. His daughter loved him and no matter what happened she would always love him and that was all what Neal needed to be happy.

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**I know that you love Neal, I love him too, but I feel like I had to do that. The AACD really exist here in Brazil, so that is my homenage to that wonderful place where make miracles. My inspiration came when I spent 25 hours in front the TV watching the "teleton" (TV program exhibited once a year where collects donations to the AACD serve millions of people for free in 16 rehabilitation centers scattered throughout Brazil.)**

**I'm waiting your review. :)**


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